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two way radios revisited

I know this has been brought up in the past but I am sick and tired of our verizon ptt not working so I am looking into getting two way radios in our trucks and a base here in the office to help with our lack of communication in the field. We work mainly in the akron canton area the question I have is the fees for running the radios and how much it would cost to setup our own repeater. I have been looking at used radios on ebay for a few weeks, radio recommendations? Any help on this subject would be appreciated!

my wifes uncle is a dealer for relm radio's. we bough a couple for the FD and they work better than the motorolas that we have. i checked into a repeater a couple years ago and i think it was like $25 for a group repeater or like $150 for a private one. (per month)

Cell phone service in generalwith Verizon is really starting to suck. I've had Verizon for 5-6 years or more and their service has gotten terrible in the last year. I've tried updating my phone and called tech support several times, been to the store and complained, and always get the same BS. Was told my phone was old and the software was outdated even though it wasn't even a year and a half old. So I had to pay full price for a new one and the d@mn thing is just as bad. I constantly get a call and then it drops as soon as I pick up. I think I'm gonna get tin cans and string. It's ridiculous.

It takes just as long to make a call as it does to get someone on the push to talk my thoughts are do away with the cell phones put radios in the trucks if they are out of their trucks call their personal cell phones they all have verizon any way. The only time I would need to call them is during landscape season in the winter they are in the truck most of the time. I was thinking I would get a couple handheld units for our sidewalk guys and me. I have never herd of relm radios do you know ideally what the cost per unit was on them? I have been looking at motorola units online and they can be had pretty cheap in good condition.

It takes just as long to make a call as it does to get someone on the push to talk my thoughts are do away with the cell phones put radios in the trucks if they are out of their trucks call their personal cell phones they all have verizon any way. The only time I would need to call them is during landscape season in the winter they are in the truck most of the time. I was thinking I would get a couple handheld units for our sidewalk guys and me. I have never herd of relm radios do you know ideally what the cost per unit was on them? I have been looking at motorola units online and they can be had pretty cheap in good condition.

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i dont know the exact costs but i believe he can get you new for less than used motorolas.

I think it's $25/yr to have a private 2-way frequency, any two way radio dealer can help you apply for the FCC license. I don't think there is a yearly charge for running your own repeater but I'm not 100% sure.

We picked up all of our Vertex Standard gear from ebay, hand helds for about $100/ea and base stations for the office and trucks for $200-250 ea., the repeater setup and antenna was $400. We get about a 8-10 mile radius in town depending on the interference, a higher powered antenna and placing it higher up would make a big difference though.

Fargo that is exactly what I am looking for cost wise something not to expensive I saw new motorola truck units that were around $500 and in this case it would add up super fast as my plan would be to mount them in everything I own that has a cab. Is that 25 per year per radio? or 25 flat I herd around here its like $7.00 per month per radio to run off of someone elses repeater.

Fargo that is exactly what I am looking for cost wise something not to expensive I saw new motorola truck units that were around $500 and in this case it would add up super fast as my plan would be to mount them in everything I own that has a cab. Is that 25 per year per radio? or 25 flat I herd around here its like $7.00 per month per radio to run off of someone elses repeater.

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That is a flat rate per year for the FCC frequency license. As far as renting time on someone elses repeater I think thats really up to the repeater owner. I know the guy that owns the local Vertex shop rents access on his, what he charges I really don't know. If your patient you can find new and like new radio gear on ebay for excellent prices, we built our package up over the course of 2 seasons.

Thats kind of what I was thinking get what we need and then keep an eye out for deals and pick them up for future use!

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We started with 4 handhelds and shoulder mic's from the dealer, paid him for our frequency and were off. They worked great when we were all in the same lot but not much further.

For your setup the sky is the limit really. Our city has a 2 way repeater with a 16 mile radius (32 miles total). They also have vechicals with mobile repeaters to increase that distance. The repeater we set up is actually in a small road case for summer use at events, we could run it in a truck in the winter but our city really isn't that big

I have marine VHF radios in my trucks. We can typically communicate upwards of 10 miles. They're not private by any means but work very well. No licensing fees. Radios that I have only run about $100 each plus the antena that was I think around $40.

MSS I have seen those in the past but I need something that will cover a 30-40 mile radius

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At work we have motorola equipment that is on a business frequency 462. on a repeater systen that we lease from the local motorola dealer, this gives use about 40 mile radius, the lease on the repeater is <$100.00 month the equipment was about $1500.00 per vehicle which we own.

I know this has been brought up in the past but I am sick and tired of our verizon ptt not working so I am looking into getting two way radios in our trucks and a base here in the office to help with our lack of communication in the field. We work mainly in the akron canton area the question I have is the fees for running the radios and how much it would cost to setup our own repeater. I have been looking at used radios on ebay for a few weeks, radio recommendations? Any help on this subject would be appreciated!

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Dont get a private repeater, you can piggyback off of an existing one for a fraction of the cost. The biggest expense is going to be the radio's. I looked at a set this year (4 radio's) and they were 675 each! They were nice Motorola's but dang!

We have Kenwood and Motorola radios and new radios we just got the other day was $480 and we get 30-40 miles without a repeater. My uncles has repeater and he gets 100 miles plus outa it! And has the same radios as us. They work great but you get into a lot of trees or high rises and the distance goes down. The FCC license is free for a private ban.
I deal with Two Way Communications 320-587-9656 I know some of you guys are farther away but they can maybe answer your questions. I hope this helps.

A buddy of mine up here who runs a tree service has all kenwood radios in all of his stuff roughly 40 radios he hooked me up with his dealer and I am going to meet with him this week he said he gets 45 miles out of his radios. He rents space off of the dealers repeater. There are some real good deals on ebay the only problem is sorting threw the ones that don't meet the new band width regulations that are going into affect soon making everyone run equipment on a narrow bandwidth. So this means eveyone is dumping there old radios and you can get screwed pretty quick by buying these out of date radios. I will keep you guys posted after I talk with the dealer